


Eroding

by tsundo



Series: Wing Lives AU [2]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, M/M, Wing doesn't get a break
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-14 17:02:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29795091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsundo/pseuds/tsundo
Summary: Takes place in Lost Light #16 - #18Wing's time in the "Afterspark" almost feels like paradise. Eventually it only leads to his desolation as he realises where he truly is.
Relationships: Drift | Deadlock/Wing
Series: Wing Lives AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2188614
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	Eroding

Wing wakes up somewhere he’s never been before. The last thing he remembers was the cramped space of the ever shrinking ship, Skip, holding Cyclonus back as tensions rose to the boiling point and suddenly there were alerts of having to bail out of the ship to avoid being crushed. He died. He and his whole crew died. He steps out onto the balcony and he cannot believe his optics. There stands a gigantic Matrix of Leadership up in the sky, but he doesn’t smile. He frowns instead as he recognises exactly where this place is. His past keeps coming back to haunt him. 

Wing is with Brainstorm, Nautica and Nightbeat during this. He finds them examining one of the slabs and they wave him over, knowing he was part of the Circle of Light. It leaves a sick feeling in his tank as he looks at the scrawling on the stone slab. He’s the one to explain his suspicions that they’re in the Afterspark after piecing together the events that happened. But Wing is skeptical. His relationship with faith still was healing, the cracks of it still never fully fixed. He knew that it was fragile and easily broken. So he didn’t go into this with fully believing this was in fact the Afterspark. But then the thought hits his mind. And he transforms into his jet form without a word, leaving Brainstorm, Nautica and Nightbeat to their own devices. 

He flies relentlessly, scanning,  _ searching  _ for him. And when he sees the tell tale sign of white paint and long pointed finials does he land. It’s Drift. Sitting there in a kneeling position. Wing doesn’t move for a while. He’s frozen to his spot as he stares at him from behind. There from in front of him is Drift’s voice. Clear as day. 

“Are you going to just stand there or don’t you want to see my face?” Drift asks. And in that moment Wing rushes in and tackles Drift to the ground in a hug. Years and years of pent up grief, sorrow and longing pour out of Wing as he sobs in Drift’s grasp. It takes a bit for Wing to gather himself but Drift takes his servos and pulls him up, the two walking. “What happened after I died,” Drift asks. There’s a hitch in Wing’s breath and a falter in his step as he recalls. 

“I pretty much died with you that day, Drift,” Wing then starts. “New Crystal City… no longer was the utopia I saw it to be. Everything was just… grey and lifeless. I lost myself when you died that day, Drift,” Wing says. “I changed for the worse,” he confesses. “That annoyingly optimistic Wing you met… died the day you sacrificed yourself. For me.”

“I don’t regret it, you know,” Drift says. “I couldn’t stand to see you die, especially because of the mistakes I made. I think it would have eaten at me if you died because of me.”

“Then that makes two of us,” Wing laughs weakly. He can’t believe what’s happening right now. Drift’s beside him. ...It doesn’t feel right. Maybe it’s because he’s spent so much time with Ratchet or away from New Crystal City, but this doesn’t exactly reignite his faith in Primus or anything. It only feels worse when Drift says something that doesn’t feel characteristic of him. It’s only something that Wing’s heard in his  _ dreams  _ if anything. 

“I waited for you, you know,” Drift then says. “I didn’t want to ascend without seeing you again.”

“We don’t have to,” Wing says this time. “We can just stay here and make up for lost time.” Drift frowns. 

“You don’t want to ascend? I thought that’s what the Circle of Light had taught you.”

“Drift, I’m no longer a part of the Circle of Light,” Wing says. “I told you I died with you that day. My faith was shattered that day.” And Wing sees Drift flicker just for a moment.

“But you’re my sparkmate,” Drift says, almost hurt from what Wing said earlier. Wing lets go of Drift’s servos as the realisation sets in.

That realisation is cut short as he’s zapped from where he is and he reappears in a dark room surrounded by familiar figures he’d seen in readings and back in New Crystal City. He sees Rodimus is in the room with him. At this moment though, it’s just Wing and the Guiding Hand. He cuts Rodimus off before he can say anything. “No,” Wing says. Only a second later do Magnus and Ratchet appear. Wing steps back in disbelief as rage fills his very core. “You’re not  _ real _ ,” he says out loud in defiance. His already fragile relationship with faith is shattered once again. The image of the Guiding Hand flickers. “This is just some kind of sick joke, isn’t it,” Wing then says. “That wasn’t Drift down there.  _ Was it, _ ” he then asks. The image flickers again and warps before the four are dropped onto the ground. 

“What just happened?” Rodimus asks. Wing stands up slowly, fists balled up tight as he shakes with a quiet rage that makes any question Rodimus has immediately go away. 

It’s all been a  _ ruse _ , a trick and Wing fell right into it. That wasn’t Drift earlier. And the revelation of that leaves him  _ devastated _ . 

“Come on,” Wing says after a moment. “We need to figure out what this place is before anyone gets hurt.” 

“Can you see that, Wing?” Ratchet then asks, knowing that Wing is the only one within the group right now who’s seen through all this. “‘We are all trapped light.’ I’m sure I’ve heard that phrase before...”

“I see it,” Wing replies. 

“I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about,” Rodimus replies. 

“It’s not there,” Magnus says. “There’s nothing there,” he says as he looks up at the temple entrance.

Rodimus, Ultra Magnus and Ratchet enter the temple with Wing and they walk further into the halls until they see a door. The letters W-0 are painted on and Ratchet points at it.

“I suppose you can’t see this either?” Ratchet asks both Rodimus and Magnus. 

“See what?” Rodimus replies.

“ _ That. _ The letter W, the number zero.”

There’s a glass pillar in the centre with green electrical energy bouncing within the walls. Surrounding it are organic looking beings on slabs essentially hooked up to this pillar.

“Some kind of lab?” Magnus asks. 

“More like a hospital...” Ratchet responds. 

“W for ward, then,” Magnus says.

“Ward zero,” Rodimus adds. 

The three converse for a bit before Wing hushes everyone. The beings on the slabs are speaking in their own languages.

“Prepare, confront, repel… they’re all saying that,” Magnus says. 

“And before you ask, no chanting is not normal,” Ratchet adds. 

“Ok, then, question two,” Rodimus starts. Wing immediately draws his swords. ”When does a chant become a summons?”

There’s the sound of rumbling and the room is suddenly filled with four stone golems. 

“How do we get ourselves into these situations?” Ratchet asks in exasperation. “And more to the point, how do we get out of them?”

“You’re not going to believe this, but I know these guys,” Rodimus then says. 

“Old friends, right? Please say they’re old friends,” Ratchet sighs. One of the golems punches Rodimus. 

“To be fair, that’s not conclusive proof either way,” Magnus adds. The four manage to dispatch the stone golems fairly easily, Wing slicing through one of them with his swords and immediately kicking one towards Magnus to finish off. 

“I have to say, last time we met, they put up more of a fight,” Rodimus says as he deals the finishing blow. 

“Not that you’re complaining,” Magnus says.

“Not that I’m complaining,” Rodimus agrees.

During this time Wing hasn’t said anything. He’s still stewing in his anger from earlier and while Ratchet converses with Magnus to figure out what exactly this is and how to disable it, Wing takes a chair and throws it through the glass chamber. There’s a bright light that is almost overwhelming to the four of them until the light subsides, leaving them in a more modern medical setting. Before Magnus can scold Wing for his abrupt action, Rodimus places a servos on Magnus’ arm as if to tell him this wasn’t the time. So instead he turns towards Ratchet as he explains where they are. And what this place truly was. 

When Rodimus gets to the part of where the program used their innermost desires and projected that, Wing feels even sicker than before. And then the hollowness comes back much much worse than Wing ever imagined. He snaps out of it when he hears Magnus.

“I’ll let the others know. Whirl? Are Trailcutter and Pipes still there? Because if they are, they won’t be for much longer I need you to -” Magnus pauses. “This isn’t the Afterspark, the dead haven’t come back to life and don’t  _ ever  _ call me Chunky.” There’s a response. “They probably think they are real. Which is why you have to tell them the truth - before they disappear like the Matrix. If anyone wants to say their goodbyes… They haven’t got much time-” Wing doesn’t hear the rest of what Magnus has to say before he races out of the room and stands outside, trying to let his mind be willing just one last time. 

And Drift’s in front of him once again. But Wing can see the illusion already fading away slowly.

“I just need to tell you this. Any semblance of you, I don’t care if you’re fake,” Wing starts. “But I love you. I always loved you from the moment you told me why you joined the Decepticons, I  _ loved  _ you. I just wish I had the chance to tell you when you were alive.” He takes Drift’s servos into his and then embraces him for one last time. “I love you,” he breathes. And he’s gone.

And Wing collapses to his knees, hangs his helm low as he grits his dermas, optics shut tight as he cries again. He gets back up and goes back into the ward. He sees Nautica’s in there this time and sees a familiar greyed out mech in the arms of someone he hasn’t seen before. But that mech. His optics dim as his spark feels like it’s about to give out with the amount of grief that washes over him. 

“ _ Axe _ ?” Wing calls out. 

“I’m sorry, Wing - if I’d known he was a friend, I wouldn’t have, you know, used him to make an entrance,” Nautica says apologetically. Wing doesn’t reply as he takes his dear friend’s lifeless frame into his own arms. “I found him in a morgue downstairs - along with hundreds more like him.” Wing looks towards Nautica now. 

“Did you see a mech that looked similar to me,” Wing asks sternly. He’s hoping desperately that Redline wasn’t among them too. 

“Yes,” Nautica replies. “Wing. I. I think the entire Circle of Light was down there.” His spark feels like it’s about to give out again. He immediately begins to look around in Axe’s compartment and everyone shoots him a look of disgust and confusion. “What are you doing?!” Nautica asks. Wing ignores everyone’s protest and finds the thing he’s looking for, an old miniature datapad. When he looks at it, the words that Wing wrote so long ago hit him like a train. 

_ Don’t look for me. _

The datapad clatters to the floor. He doesn’t feel real right now. Today has just been blow after blow after blow and Wing thought he could fight against it and stay strong. But his will is so weak. And he feels it about to happen.

“I can’t do this anymore,” Wing breathes. It gives out. Everything in him shuts down and he collapses to the floor. He can’t hear the frantic panic of everyone. He doesn’t hear Rodimus and Ratchet’s panicked voices.

_WING!_ _Wing_ _!_ _Wing, wake up,_ _wake up_ _._ _Wake UP, WING!_

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Christ I didn't want this to get so dark but the realisation of him finding out his entire family is down there dead would fucking break him especially when he left without saying goodbye. I can only imagine how awful that guilt would be. 
> 
> I want him to be happy but I really haven't given him a break huh. The fact that this is near the end of Lost Light too... It's not looking too good.


End file.
